German Patent 33 06 852 C1 discloses a device for notching and cutting shaped bodies from an extruded section of material. The material is notched about its periphery and transported into a cutting position having parallel conveyor belts arranged such that the notches register between the conveyor belts. A cutting wire passes through the material at a location in registration with the space between the conveyor belts.
A disadvantage of that device resides in the fact that the cutting wire, which is moved downwardly through the extruded piece, displaces deform able material of the body, e.g., clay, in the direction of the lower cutting edge, so that the notch is deformed, smeared over and a beard is produced. In short, the notch definition is substantially distorted and destroyed. This is not only aesthetically unacceptable but also hampers the handling of the individually formed shaped bodies, e.g., the brick, since injuries may result.
From European Patent 0 515 704 B1, a device is known to notch extruded pieces, in which extruded pieces are first pushed transverse to their longitudinal direction into a notching device that has rows of notched rollers that can move transversely to the direction of movement of the clay column. The notching device consists of an upper and a lower notched roller holder that holds an extruded piece between the holders with rows of notched rollers attached to the holders in pairs in each case. Thus, the rows of notched rollers have a first position relative to one another that leads to notching of the lower and upper sides of the extruded piece. From that first position, the notched rollers are moved toward one another to a second position while acting on the upper side and back side of the extruded piece in the direction of the center of the extruded piece. The extruded piece is raised with an elevating platform adjacent the notched roller pair into the second position, whereby the notched extruded piece is forced through a wire fan and is cut to the length of the shaped body. However, this prior patented device is very expensive and difficult to adjust to various dimensions of extruded pieces or shaped bodies.